Project Mazdaspeed Protegé

Saying Goodbye Is Such Sweet Sorrow

It really sucks because we were about to drop the hammer on our long-termMazdaspeed Protegé when we had to say goodbye a few months early.Plus we lost a free ride.

We even considered changing the name of the project to Project Perplexedbecause the car's response to the performance parts we installed was baffling.The feisty four would run off-the-chart rich. Engine additions addressingrestrictions exiting the engine and enhancing the charge air entering the enginedid little to raise the air/fuel ratio. Even a factory-mandated ECU reflash failed tohelp. What's worse is that the new programming took away some of theprogress we made.

These photos and dyno charts outline the highlights of Project Protegé.Relying on the factory ECU for tuning we coaxed an additional 61.1 whp out ofthe Mazda and can report it was eager to shred rubber in first, second and thirdgears. Overall, the Mazdaspeed is a great project platform.